Providence Silky Drive Pedal Review

In the weird world of overdrive
pedals, the terms “classic”
and “vintage” are used pretty
loosely. What is classic overdrive,
anyway—the sound of an
’80s Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer?
A ’50s amp whose power tubes
are clipping? Opinions no
doubt vary quite widely. But
the beauty of the Providence
Silky Drive is not which classic
overdrive flavor it nails, but that
it sounds good enough to make
the argument irrelevant.

No Need to Think
The Silky Drive’s design is ideal
for guitarists who would rather
play than twiddle knobs. It
won’t take up much space on
your pedalboard, and it’s easy to
use. The volume, drive, and tone
knobs are familiar to anyone
who’s used, say, a Tube Screamer,
but there’s also a gain boost button
for piling on some dirt.

The Silky Drive features
what Providence calls a
Vitalized Noiseless Switching
Circuit designed to minimize
noise when switching the effect
on or off. Further, a doublecontact
grounding circuit aims
to improve sound quality and
tone integrity.

Brighter Days
A relatively quiet pedal when
engaged, the Silky Drive has
a tonal range that is nothing
short of astounding. Overdrive
pedals come in multitudinous
shades of light, dark, warm,
and nasty, and I couldn’t have
gotten a starker reminder of
this fact than when I switched
out a trusted and familiar modded
Tube Screamer to make
room for the Silky Drive on my
pedalboard. I had been keen to
explore brighter lead tones with
an assortment of vintage Fender
blackface combos, and the Silky
Drive really let the sunshine
in. This pedal is very much at
home on the brighter side of
the tone spectrum.

It doesn’t take much tweaking
to hear how the Silky Drive
can lend airiness and a nice,
controlled high end that you
can dial to various shades. With
the tone knob at 12 o’clock
and drive at 1 o’clock, you get
a very smooth, harmonic overdrive
with superb articulation
and high-end warmth. A “super
strat” with a humbucker and
single-coil generated glowing,
organic crunch regardless of
pickup type. Engaging the boost
yielded a tad more oomph and
ample sustain, though a little
extra boost would be nice for
heavier settings and really slicing
through a dense mix. The
tone knob’s sweep is both even
and expansive, offering lots of
usable variations—from deep,
“woman” tone to icy trebles.

Cranking the drive knob
enables avails tones ranging
from early Van Halen to SRV,
depending on pickup selection.
Turn it fully counterclockwise,
and you can dial in a clean
boost that, while not transparent,
still offers a throaty clarity.
With your guitar volume set
the way you like it, you can
slowly add in smatterings of
grit while still maintaining the
personality of your amp. And
it really shines in a blues-rock
context where clearer, more
organic tones are critical. In a
rock context, it sounds furious
without getting buzzy. And
even with drive cranked, this
pedal is very responsive
to guitar volume levels
and picking dynamics.
If you’re fairly adept at
those techniques, the
Silky Drive will deliver
a range of tones that
you just won’t find
in many overdrives
pedals.

The Verdict
While the word
“silky” doesn’t
always come to
mind when using
this pedal, it
can be exceedingly
smooth and
rich—but it also
offers a wide assortment of
dirty colors to play with when
smooth is the last thing you
need. The Silky Drive makes
humbuckers sing with a richer
warmth and clarity, and it gives
traditional single-coils a lushbut-
rugged muscularity. The
pedal also almost never gets
dark or muddy—even through
a bass-heavy Fender amp. A
bit more gain from the boost
circuit would be nice for getting
the sweetest tones further
out front, but the Silky Drive is
still a beautifully voiced pedal
that will be at home with roots
and blues rockers, and others
who need overdrive that can
range from super subtle to a
little bit nasty.

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